Quote:
Originally Posted by Amadeus  "No wonder nobody likes us". What is your point? It is not the government's job to run a popularity contest around the world. They are here to work for the American people. Your very title seems a little off because if "nobody liked us" then why are they so eager to come over here?
Frankly I think the US government is being fair. Try going into other countries illegally and see what happens. It would be cheaper for them to lock you up then to fly you back home and some countries would keep you indefinately. Some countries would beat you and maybe more. Why are you and Dan so eager to piss on the American flag every chance you get? |
First of all, I have not once "pissed on the American flag." Our country was founded on dissent and freedom. I am proud to live in a country that at least originally intended to provide me with a bevy of rights. What I fail to understand is how proud Americans can sit by and watch our country violate it's most sacred principles even as we criticize the inhumane practices of other nations.
Secondly, the title of this thread has nothing to do with us running a "popularity contest." It is simply a wording taken from conversations I hear everyday lamenting "why do the terrorists hate us?" I would have no problem with the entire world hating our guts
if I believed that we were acting with honor and integrity. Being one of the American people, I would assert that the government in this instance is not working for me or anyone like me that finds this practice barbaric. I am wholly against the notion that it is in anyone's best interest to drug foreigners against their will in order to deport them. The argument about what fate would befall me in another country is a staw man. I will not quietly sit by as my country engages in behavior which mirrors the abuses committed against foreigners in other countries. Perhaps I would get beaten in another country for entering illegally. Perhaps I would be jailed indefinitely without charges or trial (sound familiar?). Does that justify the United States applying similar treatment to illegal aliens on our own soil. I don't think so. How is it "fair" to do what we find abhorent in others? Do you think that the people of the US would react favorably to having one of our own citizens forcibly dosed with an anti-psychotic medication in another country in order to facilitate deportation back to the US. I highly doubt it!
Thirdly, many people are eager to come to this country because of the ideals we espouse, and the relative freedom and economic prosperity they can enjoy compared to their place of origin. Does this mean we should stop trying to become even better? Should we lower our standards since other countries haven't set the bar too high? No.
We are engaged in a "war on terror" yet we perpetrate acts that I can only define as terroristic. We infringe on the rights of our own citizens to protect us from the scaries in the world without accepting that much of our own behavior has perpetuated the hatred directed at us. We are daily fed a diet of fear and sensationalism to keep us in line with what our government wants to do. I for one am getting sick. I'm overfed on hatred and self-righteousness. I am looking for another way.
Far from pissing on the American flag, I seek to hold my beautiful country to the standards and ideals that I believe are at our core. We have not yet in practice become what we have the potential to be. As long as we employ tactics better suited to terrorists and dictators, I will continue to express my disdain for what we have allowed ourselves to become. And to hope that we are able to become a nation that stands as a shining example of what a country can really be when integrity is a cherished value.
I fail to see how that's a bad thing.